Washing Machine That Uses Just a Cup of Water

A washing machine that cleans clothes by pounding them with plastic chips could save billions of litres of water a year, its inventors claim.

The Xeros uses less than 2 per cent of the water -- and energy -- of a conventional model and leaves clothes almost dry, doing away with the need for a tumble drier.

The machine uses thousands of reusable plastic chips to remove and absorb dirt. Tests have shown the machine can shift virtually all types of everyday stains, according to a team at Leeds University.

Professor Stephen Burkinshaw, who invented the machine -- which uses one cup of water each cycle -- said: "The performance of the Xeros process in cleaning clothes has been quite astonishing.

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Washing Machine That Uses Just a Cup of Water